The Girl in the Woods
by Carrie7
Summary: While camping in the wet mountains of the Earth Kingdom for the night, Team Avatar discovers a young woman with an intriguing ambition.


**Not really meant to be fantastic, just a little blurb for fun. Takes place somewhere between 'The Chase' and 'The Library.' No specific point in time, really. Just know that Toph is still in the middle of training Aang Earthbending.**

_**The Girl in the Woods**_

The rain fell in gray soggy sheets, soaking everything for miles around. The mountains below had been reduced to nothing more than foggy silhouettes and the cold wind whipped the trees into submission. To make matters worse, the sun was beginning to set which could mean only one thing: having to set up camp.

"I am _not_ looking forward to making a fire in this," Sokka said flatly, his arms crossed against his chest in an indignant gesture that also kept his torso warm.

"It's okay," Aang said optimistically from his seat on Appa's neck. "Katara and I can bend the water away from the fire pit while you build it."

"Yeah, and then what? As soon as you guys stop it'll get rained out," Sokka said.

"Man, you're grumpy when you get wet," Toph observed, her tone sarcastic.

"I've developed a negative association with water since every time Katara makes with the waterbending, I get soaked," he grumbled, flashing an unhappy look in Katara's direction.

"It's not my fault that you _never_ get out of the way!" Katara shot back.

"Alright, everyone's just a little edgy from the rain…," Aang said, trying his best to be the peace maker.

"It's been raining for two days! I've been wet for _two_ _days_!" Sokka cried. "I'm soaked through to my trunks!"

"Yeah, I didn't need to know that…," Toph groaned. She gripped the side of Appa's saddle a little tighter as the giant bison began to descend into the damp forest below.

With a great thump, Appa touched down onto the muddy forest floor in the middle of a clearing, all six of his giant feet squishing into the muck. He gave an unhappy groan as Aang dismounted, bending a gust of air that sent him gliding lightly down to the ground. Katara, Sokka and Toph exited down the bison's tail.

"Eew…," Toph muttered as her bare feet sank into the mud.

"I hate this forest already," Sokka said. In one smooth gesture, he whipped out his machete. "Any takers for coming with me to look for dry wood?" The rest of the group stared at him, even Toph. "Anyone," Sokka said slowly. "Anyone at all…alright, fine, just me again." He slogged off deeper into forest, whacking away at the undergrowth spitefully with his blade.

"Make a fire, Sokka, catch us some food, Sokka, stop poking the Ostrich Horse, Sokka…," he grumbled mockingly as he walked. During his rant, he sliced through the thin trunk of a sapling, causing it to fall on top of him. He flailed and wrestled with the foliage of the tree, sputtering and growling in frustration. All the water that had been collecting in the leaves shook loose and soaked him through. "CAN I _GET_ ANY WETTER?!" Sokka yelled into the darkening forest as he flung the sapling off of him. As if on cue, the rain pounded harder through the dense canopy above. "I had to ask…," Sokka muttered.

As he went deeper into the woods, the undergrowth became denser. The branches of the trees grew closer to the ground and lichen hung in mats off the branches. Sokka was sorely beginning to doubt the existence of any dry firewood in the sopping wet forest. Just as he finally admitted to himself that it was going to be a campfire-less night, a loud _crack_ echoed from a short distance away. Sokka cautiously removed his boomerang from inside his blue anorak, holding it and the machete at the ready. The sound of snapping wood was a lot closer now and he could barely make out the sound of squishing footsteps; the presence was definitely human. He inched back in the direction he came, keeping his eyes on the direction of the rustling and cracking. Once his legs were freed up from the constricting vegetation, he waited, preparing himself for a fight. If Zuko or his crazy sister popped out of the bushes, he'd have the advantage.

As Sokka waited, his slow breaths rose in a mist before him and his muscles were tense for a fight. He listened carefully to the sounds of whoever was approaching and he could see the underbrush swaying now, only a few feet away. The person that finally emerged from the vegetation gasped when they saw Sokka and threw themselves into a reflexive tai-chi stance. Sokka's jaw dropped a little and his muscled slackened when he realized what he was staring at; it was a girl, probably in her late teens or early twenties, bundled up in a dark blue anorak with white fur around the hood. Her hair was shaggy and brown and flung haphazardly into a ponytail. A small chunk of her wet hair was braided and hung over her right shoulder. Her eyes were icy blue, her skin a dark tan and she wore an engagement choker; she was unmistakably Water Tribe.

The girl straightened up out of her fighting stance when she realized that Sokka was a friend rather than a foe. She and Sokka's faces split into simultaneous grins.

"Water Tribe…," they said in unison, nodding at each other.

"Southern?" the girl asked.

"Northern?" Sokka queried in return. The girl stuck out her hand in a semi-manly gesture and Sokka took it and squeezed it in the traditional greeting.

"What're you doing out here?" Sokka asked. "We're a little far from the North Pole."

"I could say the same for you," she said. "I live here, what's your story?"

"I'm looking for firewood," he said.

"Good luck finding anything dry in this place," the girl scoffed. "It's been raining for the last month. Can you bend?"

"No…," Sokka muttered, his expression deadpan. "My sister can. I'm the normal one." The girl tipped her head back and gave a brief bark of laughter.

"I'm Matsu," she said. "If you want, I can help you with your firewood dilemma."

"I wouldn't say no," Sokka said with a little smile as he put his boomerang back in its hiding place beneath his coat.

"Then let's get crackin', it's gonna get dark soon," Matsu said as she led the way, Sokka close behind her.

Back at the campsite, Toph had erected a large stone tent from dry rock that lay hidden under the muck. Katara had removed the water from the floor of the tent and Toph waterproofed their lodging further by bending the rock at either end of their tent into little five inch walls. Meanwhile, Aang had unloaded their bags and blankets into the stone tent, drying their equipment off with a mighty blast of air.

"This should keep us dry for the night," Katara said as she inspected their handiwork.

"Yeah, unless it floods," Toph said cynically as she stretched out against one of the tent's walls.

"I doubt it," Aang said. "It's raining pretty hard, but not hard enough to flood us." After a beat of silence, he asked "Hey, where's Sokka?"

"If it gets any darker, we'll have to go look for him," Katara said, a note of concern cropping up in her voice.

"Don't bother, he's headed this way," Toph said, reading the vibrations in the earth. "It's a little hard to see through all the squishy mud, but it feels like he's got someone with him."

"Oh no," Katara muttered. "What if it's Zuko?"

"It's not," Toph said resolutely. "I've never felt her footsteps before."

"Are you sure it's a girl?" Katara asked.

"Almost positive," the earthbender said firmly.

"Everyone, Sokka's saved the day again!" Sokka announced as he climbed into the stone tent. From inside his coat, he extracted a pile of dry kindling and small logs. "And I brought a friend."

"Who?" Katara asked.

"Team Avatar, this is Matsu. Matsu, Team Avatar," Sokka said, gesturing to each respective party.

"Hi," Mastu said as she climbed into the tent. She, too, unloaded a pile of dry wood from inside her anorak.

"You're Water Tribe!" Katara said happily as Matsu sat down.

"Used to be, anyway," the newcomer said with a sigh and a little smirk.

"Used to be?" Katara asked. "What happened?"

"I left," Matsu said with a shrug. "I was tired of only using waterbending to heal, so I started spying on Master Pakku and his students and I got caught one too many times practicing fighting moves. I guess it didn't help that after he let his students leave I'd pick fights with them…"

"You sound like Katara," Aang said brightly. "When we were up at the North Pole, she snuck lessons from Master Pakku, too."

"I'm going to go ahead and assume you're Katara," Matsu said, gesturing at her fellow waterbender.

"Yes, I am," Katara said. "Why did you decide to leave?"

"Well, you know how it is…girls aren't supposed to fight and all that," Matsu said with a shrug. "I refused to stop learning waterbending for combat and I got so sick of everyone telling me what to do, so I left. It was six years ago, though, I was probably around your guys' age."

"That's terrible," Katara said sympathetically.

"It was for a while, until I learned to fend for myself," Matsu agreed. "I stayed near the coast of the Earth Kingdom to practice waterbending, but then I heard about this place and how its wet season lasts for most of the year. I figured it would be a perfect place to practice in peace. It's really tranquil out here; it gets your chi flowing nice and smooth."

"So_that's_ how you found dry wood," Katara said slyly, shooting a smirk at Sokka. "You had her bend the water out of the wet branches."

"Hey, no one ever said that getting help from a wayward Water Tribe member was against the rules," Sokka said as he twisted a stick between his hands against a larger stick, trying desperately to make a spark.

"He scared the pants off of me, standing there with his weapons," Matsu said with a laugh.

"I thought you were Fire Nation," Sokka said with a shrug. "They're everywhere and they're after us."

"Well, no doubt, since you've got the Avatar with you," Matsu said. "Bravo, by the way. I'm all for overthrowing the Fire Nation. The Earth Kingdom is really suffering now that the Fire Nation has started to colonize more. The big cities act like nothing's wrong while the peasants have their lives torn apart. You have to be careful in the big cities, especially Ba Sing Se."

"We'll keep that in mind," Katara said, looking a little worried. "Omashu is already overthrown."

"Really? I hadn't heard anything for a while. I don't hang around people too much anymore," Matsu admitted. "That's awful, about Omashu." Sokka finally managed enough friction to get the larger stick to burn slightly. He blew on the spark and fed it with dry grass. As the grass burned, he carefully placed kindling on top. "Wow, you're really good at that," Matsu observed. "How old are you?"

"Sixteen," Sokka answered as he blew on the fire a bit more.

"You guys are really young to be out here all by yourselves," Matsu said.

"How old are you?" Katara asked.

"I'll be twenty in November," she answered.

"I'm only fourteen," Katara said. "And Toph and Aang are both twelve."

"_Twelve_?" Matsu cried with surprise. "Man, you guys have it rough. Have you been doing alright?"

"Oh, besides crazy people trying to kill us and other crazy people trying to provoke Aang into the Avatar state, yeah, we're fine," Sokka said sardonically as he added larger branches to the fire. "Aang, Katara and Toph are all benders, though, so we usually manage."

"You must be an earthbender," Matsu said to Toph. "Your aura has 'earthbender' written all over it."

"I'm the best there is," Toph said with a tinge of arrogance as she lifted her leg slightly and brought her heel down on the rocky floor of the tent. A short platform of stone popped up under her feet, serving as a footrest.

"I've always wanted to incorporate earthbending style moves with my waterbending," Matsu said with longing in her voice.

"Can you do that?" Katara asked quizzically. "The two elements are so different."

"I don't see why not. It's just a matter of directing your chi in a different way. I've been doing a lot of thinking about it. It seems to me that each element is paired with moves that compliment it. Earthbending is paired with stronger stances, a lot of solid stepping and firm punches and kicks because they're tapping into the power of the earth. To move something so solid and unyielding, you have to have powerful moves. Waterbending is paired with more flowing moves because without it, you can't control the push and pull of the water. Traditionally, each bending style has been rigidly taught with the corresponding moves, but I think that if you open your mind to the possibilities, you can train yourself to go beyond the structure of your own element and bend in ways that have never been taught," Matsu explained.

"Wow. That actually makes a lot of sense," Aang said, looking excited.

"I've never even thought of any of this," Katara said. "It just seems so…I don't know, so _backwards_ to try and use earthbending moves with water."

"Well, when you've lost contact with your people, crazy things fly around in your head," Matsu said twirling her index finger near her left ear.

"I say anything's possible. Just like you said, you have to open your mind to the possibilities," Aang said with a grin.

"I'll bet Toph can teach you. She's a master," Katara said.

"Woah, now, Sugar Queen, don't just raffle off my time because you want to be nice," Toph said bluntly. "Look, lady, I don't know much about waterbending. I think like an earthbender. Unyielding, and all that, like in your hokey little speech. There's no way I can teach you to waterbend."

"I_know_ how to waterbend. That's not the issue. It's learning to think and feel my element like an earthbender and learning to control it. That's what I'm after," Matsu said, letting Toph's harsh words bounce off her with ease. Toph looked a little reluctant, but finally said,

"Well, I can't promise you anything, but if this rain lets up a bit tomorrow morning, you can sit in on an earthbending training session with Twinkletoes, here," Toph said with a smirk. "If I have time, we'll put your theories into practice."

"Sounds good to me," Matsu said with a smile. By the time the conversation ended, Sokka had a fairly decent fire burning and the five of them let the warmth of it dry their clothes.

* * *

"Rise and shine!" shouted Toph, stamping her heel onto the ground. The earth rose up from under Aang and Mastu, catapulting them out of sleeping position. Aang wobbled on his feet a little, but stayed aloft with a well placed gust of wind. Mastu fell forward onto her face.

"Ow…," she muttered, the ground muffling her voice.

"You wanted to learn earthbending moves, you get up when I get up, got it?" Toph said. "Now let's go. It's not pouring as hard as yesterday."

Toph led Aang and Matsu out into an area where the water had soaked into the ground enough to where the earth had some semblance of solidity.

"Take your stance," Toph told Aang as she crouched down into a firm earthbending stance. Aang mimicked her. "Today we're gonna practice making dirt into rock. All you gotta do is get yourself a chunk…," she brought her foot down and a sizable chunk of crumbly, moist dirt popped out of the ground and hovered in front of her, "and compress it into a rock." She took her arms out of her fighting stance, brought them outwards and then compressed the air between her outstretched fingers inward. The chunk of dirt was pressed down into a smaller chunk of solid stone. "Get it?"

"Uh huh," Aang said, though he looked a little worried.

"I can feel you being all nervous. Knock it off! If you want to be an earthbender, you have to be fearless!" Toph barked. "Now, get a firm stance and _mean it_!" Aang took a breath and steadied his stance. He brought his foot down and the earth in front of him jumped a little, but settled back down into the ground. "You're having doubts!" Toph cried angrily. "You have to mean it!" She stamped her foot on the ground and an enormous clod of dirt rose before her. She pressed it into a boulder and sent it flying with the back of her hands into a nearby tree. The tree shuddered and tipped sideways into its neighbor, its roots ripping out of the ground. Panicked birds flew in every direction, squawking and cawing as they went. Matsu's eyes widened. The twelve year old really was a master.

Sweat sprang out of Aang's forehead as he tried to concentrate. He did as Toph told him a million times, to feel the earth around him. When he felt like he had a firm grip on his surroundings, he brought his foot down again. This time, a chunk popped out of the ground. He tried to compress it, but lost concentration and the dirt clod exploded, sending bits of soil showering down on their heads.

"Not good enough, Twinkletoes," Toph said angrily. "But getting better. I can see I'm not gonna make much progress with you today. It's probably because we don't have any actual rock to deal with. Water Tribe lady, get over here and give this a shot." Matsu took a downtrodden Aang's place next to Toph. Mastu tried to copy the earthbending stance, but Toph corrected her.

"Get your feet further apart. You can't be solid when you're standing there like that," she said. Matsu scooted her feet apart more and crouched a little lower to the ground. "Better. Alright, I'm not really sure what you want me to do, here, but these are the basics of earthbending: it's all about feeling your element and remaining in control of it at all times. Where that'd be rock for me, I guess it'd be water for you. So stand there and close your eyes and feel the water in the ground under you." Matsu closed her eyes and took deep, controlled breaths. She felt the tiny movements in the water beneath her feet as it slipped down past rocks and roots. She felt it dripping off trees and rocks. She could feel each individual raindrop as they cascaded lazily from the sky. "You feel the water in the ground?"

"Yes."

"Alright. Instead of doing your flowy little arm movements, try getting the water out of the ground by stomping your foot. Like this," Toph brought her heel down and a spike of rock shot out of the ground. Matsu breathed in deep and as she let it out, she brought her foot down on the ground, hard. She felt the water in the dirt beneath her jerk upward a little, but not enough to break the surface.

"I felt that," Toph said with a grin that didn't reach her staring, blind eyes. "I think you might be onto something. Try it again." Matsu stomped on the ground harder and the water reacted the same way. "You know, I think your problem is that the water isn't solid enough to bring to the surface this way."

"I could freeze it," Matsu suggested.

"Let's try that," Toph agreed. Matsu breathed in through her nose and the breath that she blew out through her mouth was icy cold, freezing all the water within the dirt in a ten foot radius. "Dang that's cold!" Toph said, wiggling her bare toes in response to the frigid earth. "Alright, one more time. Let's see what happens." Matsu concentrated on the ice and felt its solidness before bringing her heel down on the cold ground. A chunk of very dirty ice popped out of the ground.

"Yes!" Matsu cried happily.

"It works!" Toph said in astonishment. "Alright, now that that's done, hold onto it. Most earthbenders use a lot of high kicks and ridiculous spins and turns at this point. Me, being blind and all, I like to keep my feet on the ground so I can see. So when I send stuff flying, I do it with my arms and hands instead. It might work better for you to do it this way because I've noticed that Katara does a lot of swingy arm stuff when she's bending. So lunge at your ice and shoot it at the boulder I made earlier." Matsu took a step forward and lunged at the ice, pushing it with her palms facing outward. The ice flew into the boulder and shattered.

"Way to go, Matsu!" Aang said jubilantly. "This is amazing!"

"I gotta admit it, you have skills," Toph said with an approving nod.

"Teach me more," Matsu said eagerly.

"You got it, sister," Toph said with a smirk.

Toph taught Matsu all the moves she knew for simple combat: catapulting people by thrusting the ground upward at an opponent, knocking their feet out from under them and manipulating the playing field to her advantage, among other things. Matsu learned quickly once she was able to get used to the different chi flow that earthbending moves required. She was a little disappointed that the water had to be frozen before she could manipulate it like an earthbender, but it made sense and she knew that once it was out of the ground, she could just as easily unfreeze it and use traditional waterbending. Halfway through their session, Katara and Sokka came to watch.

"That's incredible," she said as Matsu stomped her foot down onto the frozen ground and a field of icicles shot out of the earth. "I would have never thought to do that."

"Do you want to learn?" Aang asked her from his perch up in a tree. Katara gave it some thought.

"No, I like the traditional way. But I _would_ like to fight her," she said with a little grin.

"I don't think she'd say no," Aang pointed out.

"Did I just hear what I think I heard?" Toph asked, sarcastic amusement in her voice. "Is the Snow Queen picking a fight with my star pupil?"

"So what if I am?" Katara said, only half kidding.

"I'll take that challenge," Matsu said with a smirk. "Bring it on, little lady."

"Uh oh, showdown," Sokka scoffed.

Katara and Matsu squared off, Katara in her traditional waterbending stance and Matsu in her newfound earthbending position. Katara made the first move, lifting the water out of the moist earth and forming it into a water whip. Matsu dodged the attack just before freezing the water in the ground. She stomped the ground and three sharp icicles shot upwards in front of her. She lunged forward and pushed the icicles so hard that they broke off and flew towards Katara. Her young opponent acted reflexively, melting the ice and scooping up the water for further use. She shot the water at Matsu who stomped and erected an ice barrier. The water splashed harmlessly off the barricade. Matsu melted her own ice and sent it in a wave towards Katara with graceful arching arm movements that mixed strangely with her solid earthbending techniques. Katara couldn't react quickly enough and was momentarily knocked off her feet. She was up in a flash and hooked Matsu's left foot with a tendril of water, knocking her opponent over. From her back, Matsu brought her heel down on the frozen ground and catapulted herself into a standing position before whipping up a liquid whirlpool and trapping Katara in it. Katara was flung around by it but managed to land on her feet. With sweeping arm movements, Katara used the moisture pelting from the sky to create a massive wave that surged toward Matsu. The older waterbender breathed out and froze the wave into arcing blades of ice. She stomped the ground, breaking the solid wave into fragments before sending the pieces a few at a time toward Katara. Using her water whip, Katara deflected each of the chunks of ice.

As Aang and Sokka watched and Toph read their fight through the vibrations in the ground, it became apparent to them that neither of the girls were going to win: they were evenly matched.

Matsu's breath was ragged and rose in a mist amongst her half frozen surroundings. She was surprised by Katara's tenacity and her skill. There was no doubt that Master Pakku had trained her. The techniques she was using where verbatim from the practices Matsu had sat in on so many years ago. She wondered if her own skills would improve, even now, under the tutelage of a master like Pakku.

"Whaddya say we call it a draw?" Matsu panted.

"I was just getting warmed up," Katara said, though she was out of breath as well. In an abrupt waterbending stance, Matsu pointed with her index finger up at the sky. A single raindrop froze in its descent a few feet away. With a flicking motion, she sent it at high speed into the space between Katara's eyes, where it splashed off of her playfully.

"We're too evenly matched, neither of us would ever win," Matsu said with a smile. "Even with the earthbending techniques."

"Which are awesome, by the way. They'll really come in handy if you ever get into a real fight. And you'll have the element of surprise. No one's ever going to suspect a waterbender to use earthbending style attacks," Katara said. The two young women approached each other and locked hands in stalemate.

"Good fight," Matsu told her.

"You too," Katara said.

"Not that anyone cares, but I'm hungry," Sokka said, poking at his stomach. "I vote food."

"You_always_ vote food," Katara said flatly. "When _don't_ you want food?"

"Sometimes I…yeah, I always want food," Sokka admitted with a shrug.

"Actually, I'm kinda hungry, too," Aang said as his stomach gave a mighty groan.

"I wanna get out of this forest," Toph said. "I'm getting sick of mud."

"I guess you guys'll have to take off soon anyway," Matsu said, a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"We could give you a ride," Aang said helpfully.

"I dunno, I've sort of grown attached to this place," Matsu said looking around fondly. "Anyway, I don't even know where I'd go."

"You could go back home," Katara suggested gingerly. "Believe me, the Northern Water Tribe isn't as rigid in its customs as it used to be. Master Pakku takes on male and female students now."

"I dunno…," Matsu said hesitantly. "I sort of stormed out of there in such a rage, it'd be kind of anticlimactic if I went back."

"You're going to stay in this soggy forest just because you're afraid of being anticlimactic?" Sokka asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Sounds to me like you've got a pride problem," Toph said with a smirk. "I've got one of those..."

"Well, I just…I don't know what I'd even say. 'Hi, I'm back, sorry for being a jerk?'" Matsu said awkwardly, scratching at her moist brown hair.

"I'm sure they'll all forgive you," Katara said. "And what about your fiancé?" Matsu's hand traveled up to her engagement choker and she looked uneasy.

"I don't think he waited for me…," she said.

"Were you in love?" Katara asked.

"Yeah. He said he loved me because I was weird. He doesn't really have a way with words…," Matsu muttered with half a smile as her cheeks reddened in a blush.

"If he loved you, then he probably waited for you," Katara said optimistically.

"What if he didn't and he's with some girl who's…_normal_," Matsu said. "A healer, or something."

"What if he isn't and you never go back and miss everything?" Katara asked. "Aren't you getting tired of being _wet_ all the time?" Matsu considered this and realized that she _had_ been soaked through to her undergarments for the last six years. Maybe it was time to go home.

"I guess you're right," Matsu said. "We're sort of far from the North Pole, I wouldn't want to be a burden to you guys…"

"Don't worry, you're our friend," Aang said. "It's only a few days out of the way."

"Try a week," Sokka said, sounding irritated. "We'll be off schedule."

"Don't listen to him," Katara said, rolling her eyes. "Last time we ran into the Fire Nation, so we went a lot slower. I think we can make pretty good time if we don't stop very often."

"Yeah, come on," Aang said. "Appa won't mind." Matsu stood there looking at the four children and bit her lip. Older than them though she was, she couldn't help but realize that they were right. It was time for her to go back where she belonged, especially now that she had accomplished what she had dreamed of doing since she arrived in the Earth Kingdom.

"Alright, you've talked me into it," Matsu said with half a grin.

"Yeah!" Aang cried cheerfully as he jumped down from the tree he'd been sitting in. After a quick meal of dried meat and nuts, Matsu ran into the forest to retrieve her bag while the others packed up camp. Just as they'd stowed everything safely into Appa's saddle, Matsu came barreling through the forest with her minimal belongings. She hesitantly climbed up Appa's tail and into the saddle.

"Appa, yip yip!" Aang said as he gave the slack of the reigns a little jerk. The bison gave a grunt and took off from the rainy forest back in the direction of the North Pole where they had ventured not long ago.

* * *

Three days later, just as they thought that all there was in the vast, cold ocean of the north was bits of iceberg and a few penguins, the gates of the Northern Water Tribe appeared before them. Matsu noticed that they were finishing up a formidable construction project on the gates and the inner walls. _Fire Nation, _she thought bitterly. Had she been able to swallow her pride and come back sooner, there was a possibility that she could have helped in the attack. Aang flew Appa over the gates, knowing that the friends they had made on their last visit wouldn't mind. As the city came into view, a pit formed in Matsu's stomach. What if no one recognized her anymore? What if they'd forgotten about her completely? What if they kicked her right back out, saying how ungrateful she had been so many years ago?

Appa touched down in a square amongst a cluster of buildings. Even though she hadn't been there for six years, things had largely remained the same. The canals were still in working order, the buildings all looked the same and she even recognized a few people that she used to see on a daily basis. All those who had seen Appa flying overhead rushed into the square, looking happy to see Aang and the two children of the Southern Water Tribe. None of them seemed to make a fuss over Toph. A moment later, a familiar face swam into view: Chief Arnook.

"Avatar Aang, how good to see you again," Arnook said. "What brings you here?"

"We can't stay long, we just came back to drop someone off," Aang said, gesturing to Matsu. Arnook's eyes grew wide and Matsu blushed sheepishly.

"Matsu?" he asked in amazement.

"Hi," Matsu muttered.

"My, how you've grown! We haven't seen you in…"

"Six years. Yeah."

"I wish you would have returned sooner, our ways are not as harsh as they once were, though I do hope you won't go picking fights with Master Pakku's students again," Arnook said, giving her a stern stare.

"I won't, sir," Matsu said, inclining her head in respect to the Chief.

"You are welcomed back, of course," Arnook said. "And we are all glad that you have returned to us safe."

"Thank you," Matsu said, bowing slightly once more.

"I shall alert your parents to your homecoming, they'll be very pleased," Arnook said.

"Matsu?!" cried an exuberant male voice from in back of the crowd. A young man around Matsu's age came barreling clumsily out of the crowd and Katara was reminded instantly of Sokka. His brown hair was long and half of it was swept back into a lopsided ponytail on top of his head. His eyes were hazel and he had a tall, thin build. He looked Matsu over and looked disbelieving. Then his expression shifted into annoyance.

"Woman, where have you been?" he cried.

"I've been hanging out in the Earth Kingdom. Where have _you_ been?" Matsu cried with equal intensity. Aang, Katara, Sokka and Toph looked on awkwardly as the two fought.

"I've been sitting here, wondering where _you've_ been! Where else do you think I'd be??"

"Off with some other girl, maybe!" Matsu shouted. Chief Arnook looked irritated, but didn't interrupt. The crowd that had been there before began to disburse as the domestic squabble escalated.

"Some other girl? Why would I _ever _go off with some other girl when I've got you?!" he shouted. Matsu bent the water in the nearest canal and hooked her fiancé off his feet and dragged him into the waterway. He emerged from the canal sputtering and tripping over himself.

"It's uncanny how much he reminds me of you," Katara said to Sokka with a giggle.

"I don't _yell_!" Sokka cried indignantly, sending the other three into fits of suppressed laughter.

"That was a compliment!" Matsu's fiancé cried as he neared her, his clothes dripping wet. "What do I have to do to get you to understand that no matter what you do I still love you?!"

"Shut up!" Matsu said before she grabbed him by the front of his coat and yanked him into a kiss.

"Some things never change," Chief Arnook sighed before he shuffled away impatiently.

"You guys, this is my good-for-nothing fiancé, Tok," Matsu said, her face beaming. "Tok, this is Katara, Sokka, Toph and Aang. Aang's the Avatar."

"I_know_ that," Tok said grumpily.

"I think I recognize you from the last time we were here," Aang said politely.

"Well, this is lovely, but we really have to get going if we're going to make up for lost time," Sokka said. "Alright, everyone back on the bison."

"It was really nice to meet you, Matsu," Aang said. "We'll come visit sometime."

"I hope so," Matsu said. "Thanks for sharing your camp with me. And thank you, Toph, for helping me with a theory I never thought I'd be able to test out."

"No problem," Toph said dismissively.

"Take care of yourselves," Matsu said as the three benders plus Sokka clamored back into Appa's saddle. "And I expect you to come back and beat me," she told Katara.

"I plan on it," she said with a smile.

"Have a happy marriage!" Sokka said.

"We'll see about that," Matsu said with a grin as she stared up at Tok.

"Appa, yip yip!" Aang said. The bison rose into the air and Team Avatar watched Matsu and Tok shrink into the distance.

"They sure fight a lot," Aang said with a grin as they soared above the clouds, the cold air stinging his face.

"Now_that's_ real love," Toph said. "But let's cut this sappy stuff and get back on solid earth so I can teach you some _real_ earthbending. You got a long way to go, Twinkletoes."

The four of them relaxed and prepared for a long, painstaking journey back to the Earth Kingdom to continue what they began: preparing Aang to defeat the Fire Nation.

**THE END**


End file.
